Teuto-perfectionism

The good news just keeps pouring in about HH Benedict XVI. Many signs are pointing to an old-school papacy.

• Cardinal Ratzinger was in talks to assimilate AngloTrads into the Church.

and more to the forthcoming point,

• HH has chosen an older, more ornate pallium.
• Benedict embracing high culture Masses (if still Novus Ordo).
• Pontiff wearing traditional red shoes eschewed by HHJPII.
• Pope rediscovering dormant ceremonies.

Sweet. There are some downsides: The outdoor mass, not using the papal tiara, etc. But it's a huge step in the right direction, it warms the cockles of this proud formalist's heart. We can only hope that these signify a more authoritarian and traditional reign.

It's really hard to say with Germans. God has endowed the Teutonic soul with a deep love of details. It's true. In my sales career, we have a saying, "You'll get nowhere with Germans and engineers." And lots of Deutch-Americans seem to become engineers - those are the worst of the lot. They get lost in fine points and demand all options (even bad ones) be presented, and won't make any decision without 100% certitude. And they all think your first motivation is to screw them.

Did I ever tell you about the German who wanted to buy long term care insurance from me? We pored over the details through three full appointments. Nothing happened. "I'll call you back," says he, "after I've had some time to digest these prospecti." Six months later, he had a stroke. He could have had a half-million in cost coverage for half-a-year's premium payments.

So it's hard to say if a German's love of liturgical particularities is a sign of traditionalism or just of a passion for minutia.